Choreography proves that, while it is easy to be different than Robbins, its very difficult to be as good as Robbins. Filming and editing of dance sequences are often cliched and no less often overly sentimental...not surprising from Spielberg. "America" is an exception to most of these comments although the editing is still choppy and interrupts the flow the choreography itself is hot. Again the slow dolly down at the end is cliched to the max (perhaps trying to pay tribute to the end of American in Paris.) Mostly this number is great because Ariana DeBose is fantastic here, and throughout....a well-deserved Oscar winner in an otherwise 2nd rate production.
Most of the vocal performances are lifeless and never more-so than when Ansel Elgort's Tony is singing. Most of the numbers were recorded off set contributing to the lack of emotion. One Hand One Heart was apparently recorded on set and had much more feeling than most of the other songs but I still find Ansel 's Tony lacking in passion here.
Much of the orchestrations are modified from the original, not sure if driven by the choreography but they often result in the diminishing of a great score.
The non-lead characters of the Sharks and Jets, women and men, are excellent .
Rachel Zegler's Maria nicely acted, well sung, and believable. I found little honesty in Ansel's portrayal, your mileage may differ.
Most of the vocal performances are lifeless and never more-so than when Ansel Elgort's Tony is singing. Most of the numbers were recorded off set contributing to the lack of emotion. One Hand One Heart was apparently recorded on set and had much more feeling than most of the other songs but I still find Ansel 's Tony lacking in passion here.
Much of the orchestrations are modified from the original, not sure if driven by the choreography but they often result in the diminishing of a great score.
The non-lead characters of the Sharks and Jets, women and men, are excellent .
Rachel Zegler's Maria nicely acted, well sung, and believable. I found little honesty in Ansel's portrayal, your mileage may differ.